The-Leader_1981-10-01

              •^
Olticial
Newspaper
Village of
; Freeporl
' • •
Freeport
School District
•
-Baldwin
School District
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Oak Park Exchange Congress .
8-Page Pull-Out Centerfold Section
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FREEPORT. NEW Y6R\. OCTOBER 1.1981
46th YEAR. No. 22 r
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National
Congress
Meef/ng Here Afiendihg Roosevelf Schools
Deny Plea Of Freeporters
OUTSTANDING PLAYERS In the Freeport Recreation Department
Street Hodfey Program are presented their awards by Village Mayor
William White, Michael Sullivan (».)pf the Senior Division Jiad a record
of 16 goals and IS assists. Michael Pandalfo (2nd r.) of the Junior Divi­sion
had 36 goals and 19 assists. Watchlngthe youths receive their
trophies is Michael's mother. Mrs. Pandalfo.
Baldwin Board Decides
PrioriUes At Meeting
' byJoanOelaMy
BALDWIN - Along witJi the regular business items on the lengthy
agenda of the Wednesday, September 23rd meeting of the Baldwin
Board of Education, there were discussions of the energy bond issue,
the budget review process and the recent fire at Coolidge School.
Acceding to Superintendent of Schools Holland Jones, School Board,
president Arnold Lurie and
Assistant Superintendent for
Business Richard Dopsovic, the
fire which was of suspicious
origin did not cause structural
damage and should not in any
way interfere with the referen- "
dum concerning the sale of the
property. (See THE LEADER.
September 24, for initial report of
fire.)
May Not Collect
At its meeting, the Board
authorized the Administration to
hire the independent fire adjuster
firm of Sapperstein, Hochberg
and Haberman, Inc. for purposes
of assessing the damage and for
acting in behalf of the, district in
any insurance settlement. The
adjuster will be paid 10% of the
settlement but it was noted that,
with a $5,000 deductible, it is
possible that the district will not
collect anything. According to
Jones, the Nassau County Fire
Marshalls' report was not yet
available.
No Repairs Of
Healing Sjslemi
The Board did not appro\e the
allotment of $50,000 from the
repair reserve fund for repairs lo
heating systems at various
schools. With Board members
William Ryan and Victor Rohe
absent and Bernard Pittinsky
voting negatively, the majority
needed to pass the motion v.ii
not available. Pittinsky pointed
out that certain smaller items
should be paid for from regular
maintenance budgets although
Dopsovic explained that certain
items are state-aided when put in
a package. Dopsovic also said that
in making up the budget for this
year, it was assumed that certain
items would be paid for through
the repair reserve fund. Pittinsky
stressed that if the $50,000 were
approved, one-third of the repair,
reserve fund will already have
been spent before the winter
season even began.
Realistic Vs.
Unrealltic Figure*
There was lengthy discussion
on the process of budget prepara­tion
with a "which comes first,
the chicken or the egg" problem
seeming to occur. The Adminis­tration,
according to Dopsovic,
would like certain general finan­cial
and philosophical guidelines
from the Board at the outset. The
Board, however, seemed to feel,
that general discussions of
program, goals and philmopbiSs
should precede such Board guide­lines.
Dopsovic indicated that the
detailed presentations by depart­ment
heads, which took place last
year and which produced what
the Baldwin Education Assemblv
(B.E.A.) Budget Advisor>-
Committee termed "unrealistic
figures." need not be repeated
each year. Jones stressed that if
• Conf en Page 5)
FREEPORT • Representatives
of racially diverse conunanities
from as west as^VTiscoitsin to the
Atlantic Ocean and from Massa­chusetts
to Georgia, will attend
the national Oak Park Exchange
Congress in Freeport this coming
Thursday and Friday, October
1-2. In between attendiag woA-shops
on. such topics as the -
schools' impact on racial diverst-ty.
the real estate industry and.
the rofe of the private sector.
Congress partidpants will tour
Freeport, by land and sea, attend
a banquet at a local yacht dub
and enjoy a Freeport-style c}am
bake.
The village will also be the
center of much media attention,
including complete coverage by
Cablevision.
From the time Freeport's
Mayor William H. White wel­comes
the delegates to the
Congress and the F;reeport
Recreation Center to the close of
the Congress, Freeporters will
be involved in every aspect.
Delegates will be staying at
residents' botnes, or in local
motels; volunteers helped get
out the various nation-wide
mailings; and others will be
acting as moderators, panelists
(Cont. onPagelS)
WMfe Explains
Sanitation Bid
FREEPORT. - Following the
recent awarding of the Village of
Freeport's contract for sanitation
services to Five Counties Carting
(THE LEADER. Sept. 24), VUlage
Mayor William H. White ex­plained
the reasons for giving the
five year contract to the only
bidder.
Some 25 private carting firms
had received the bid specifica­tions
from the Village govern­ment.
The Board even extended
the origiiial returnable date by 10
days at the request of a potential
bidder. With only one bid re­turned,
however, tiie Board with­held
apprtnral of the bid for the
fiill 45 days allowed by law.
During that time. White says he
wrote each of the 25 firms ori­ginally
receiving the bid specifi­cations
to inquire if there was
anything in them which had in­hibited
them from submitting a
bid. Had that been the case.
White said the Board would have
(Cont. on Page 20)
FREEPORT - Residents of a north east section of the Village of
Freeport. which lies within the Roosevelt School District, have been
informed that their request to have school district lines redrawn will
not be granted. In a tetter to them ftom VVilliam T; Callahan, the
District Superintendent of Schools in Nassau County and the repre­sentative
of the New York State
Commissioner of Education, the
-residents were iofomed that
Callahan has ruled that he lacks
the authority to act on their
request without first obtaining
the written consents of the
Roosevelt and Freeport Boards of
Educatioii. . .
SooeereluMo
- Re«parttNaAB>wer
According to the letter,
received by a representative of
the residents this past Friday,
September 25, the Roosevelt
Board of Education refused to
consent to the change in district
lines and the Freeport School
Board had not indicated in writing
their willingness to consent to the
proposal.
"We'BGo
ADTlieWay"
But a representative of the
residents in that approximately
300. home section told THE
LEADER that her group would go
"all the way" in pursuing the
matter. The first step, the spokes­person
indicated, would be to sit
down with a "knowledgeable
attorney" and have him explain
the law and what the subsequent
legal procedure's would be. She
also mentioned that this attorney
should be someone "politically
knowledgeable" because "I
think," she said "it will eventual­ly
end up in the State Legis­lature."
The several blocks of homes in
question are located within
Freeport Village boundary lines,
but also are. u the Roosevelt
School District. In a petition they '
sent several months ago to the
State Department of Education,
- residents of that area expressed a
desire to have the school district
lines redrawn to conform to
village lines. This petition was
forwarded by the State Depart­ment
of Education to Dr. Callahan
on Long I$land,.^ho apparently
has the sole responsibility for
such a decision. At that time,
Callahan said - he would be
corresponding with both the
Freeport and Roosevelt School
Districts seeking their input as to
the effects of any such change.
RooMveh Scboolt
Look At "Bottomline"
Dr. Ulysses Byas.V Superin­tendent
of the Roosevelt School
District, in discussing the matter
with THE LEADER (issiie of
Sept. 3, page 1) opposed any such
change. The figure he dted as
"most important" was the S1.47 ..
which,-he said, was the amount
school taxes would increase in
order to makeup the S340,000
in tax money the Roooevelt Sdiool
District would lose by the
redistricting.. ,
Byas also suggested that
residents of that area had. the
same "obligations" as all
Roosevelt School Kstrict resi­dents,
specifically in terms of the
bond issue that had been floated
in order to buQd the new-high
school.
Area residents listed as one of
their reasons for their petition
that "in the Roosevelt School
District, we feel (the children] are
not getting a quality education for
the taxes we are paying."
According to figures they had
gathered when having 'the-petition
signed, the residents
claitned that 198 youngsters in
their area were attending Roose­velt
public schools and about 143
admirtedly were attending private
or other schoob.
Residents also complained that
it was virtually impossible to sell
their homes if it was known they
were in the Roosevelt School
District. "People are walking
away from their homes," one
said, "just abandoning them."
Freeport's Ice Rink
^pens October 3
FREEPORT - The 1981-82
season for the Freeport Recrea­tion
Center's ajl-weather ice rink
is sla.ted to officially open Satur­day.
October 3. With the enclosed
lighted and heated skating bubble
in place, the season will extend
through March 28,1982.
Individual admission fees for
Village of • Freeport residents
are SI for a child or senior citizen
and $1.50 for an adult. Non­residents
will pay $1.25 and $2
respectively.
Fifteen session discount tickets
are also available, with resident
children and senior . dtirens
paying $10 for them; resident
adults, 515; non-resident^hildrcn
(ContTon Page 19)